


We're So Not A Thing

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cute Ending, Denial of Feelings, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Oblivious, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Shiro (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-04-02
Packaged: 2019-04-17 15:11:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14191707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “This is Hunk. What’s u-““How long have Shiro and I been together?” Keith asked, panic rising.There was silence on the other end of the line. Keith could almost hear the gears clicking in Hunk’s brain. Then – “Dude. Dude.”“Don’t give me that tone,” Keith snapped. “It’s not like anybody told me.”---Keith doesn't MEAN to be oblivious. It just...happens sometimes. And when it catches up to him, it means a solid two hours of freaking out. Luckily, Shiro is...Not a whole lot better.For stellar-parallax for Sheithlentines 2018!





	We're So Not A Thing

                The thing with the ‘we’re totally dating’ jokes was – well, Keith had been _fairly_ certain they were jokes. Sure, he had a pretty dry sense of humour. It had tripped people up before. But it had never occurred to him that people had been taking him seriously.

                If Lance or Allura or even Hunk had made the mistake that he and Shiro were dating, Keith would have been able to handle it. He and Shiro _were_ pretty close, after all. They shared beds when it was cold – or when Keith was bored and didn’t want to sleep alone – and watched bad movies on Friday nights –

                But Keith hadn’t realized that he’d gotten something _wrong_ along the way until Shiro asked where he wanted to go for Valentine’s Day. And every gear in his brain came to a screeching, grinding halt.

                “R-run that by me again?” he managed to say.

                “Valentine’s Day. It’s next week, and I was wondering where you wanted to go.” Shiro rubbed the back of his neck. “There’s that chocolate restaurant, or the fusion place –“

                “Er. Er. I – I have to go I will be. I will be _right back._ ”

                “…Sure?”

                Keith made his escape, and once he was outside, he hammered Hunk’s number into his phone, feet already taking him down to the park.

                “This is Hunk. What’s u-“

                “How long have Shiro and I been together?” Keith asked, panic rising.

                There was silence on the other end of the line. Keith could almost hear the gears clicking in Hunk’s brain. Then – “Dude. _Dude._ ”

                “Don’t give me that tone,” Keith snapped. “It’s not like anybody told _me._ ”

\---

                Keith and Shiro had been best friends for longer than either of them cared to admit – admitting it, at least to Keith, always felt dangerously close to saying that they were getting tired of each other. For Keith, the opposite was true. He could only hope the same was true for Shiro.

                It wasn’t that he had a _crush_ on Shiro. Goodness, no. They were best friends. The best of friends.               And it was completely normal as a best friend to get very sullen for the week or two each year that Shiro attempted to date other people. Scratch the other. Date people. Which was a totally normal thing that Keith just happened to have no interest in.

                At some point, the ‘other people’ had stopped. Keith didn’t really keep track, except for the little dance of victory that he did alone in his room and that Lance had caught sight of and laughed at until Keith chucked a pillow at him.

                But they weren’t dating.

                Dating meant… oh, Keith didn’t even _know._ Dating meant exultations of love, and chocolates and exultations of chocolate, or something. Flowers. Picking baby names.

                Keith didn’t know what he wanted. Just. Not that.

\---

                “So let me get this straight-“ Hunk started.

                “-as if-“ Lance interrupted.

                “Lance, quiet. You think Shiro thinks you two are dating? Like, officially dating?”

                Keith pressed his hands to his face and let out a long, low moan, sinking down against the wall and into the mattress. “I – I don’t _know._ I mean, Valentine’s Day? That’s pretty. I. That’s a _romantic_ thing.”

                Lance shrugged. “I mean, I thought you _were_ together.”

                Keith opened his fingers enough to glare at Lance. “You also thought Davy Crockett wasn’t real _._ ”

                “Hey, I still have my doubts.”

                Hunk offered Keith a reassuring smile, and patted him on the knee. “Just be honest with him. It –“

                Keith stared incredulously at Hunk. “And tell him, what, oops, sorry, I thought we were _friend_ dating?”

                “Relevant question,” Lance piped up again. “Do you want to be dating him? Like, is this upsetting cause you don’t feel the same way or cause, I don’t know, you missed out on all the cute gushy moments you didn’t know were happening?”

                “I –“ Keith stopped and thought for a moment. Then he fell silent.

\---

                There had been plenty of cute, gushy moments, come to think of it. From the time that Keith had come home from a hard day at work to his favourite pizza and _The Princess Bride_ set up and ready on the television, to the time where Shiro had attempted to make japchae and all the noodles had slithered out of his tongs and all over the counter. (“That’s disappointing,” he’d said lightly, and Keith had laughed, reboiled them for another two minutes, and they’d tasted fine.)

                Hell, even moving in together, for all that it had been about saving money, had been full of those moments.

                So at the end of the day, Lance wasn’t _wrong._ And the more Keith looked at it, the more he was starting to think crushes didn’t look like he’d been told.

\---

                Of course, that didn’t instruct him on what he was supposed to do _next._ Obviously, go out with Shiro and pretend it wasn’t their first date. But what was he going to say when Shiro asked why he’d freaked out?

                As much as he hated the idea of Hunk being right… Hunk was right. He had to just... suck it up. Suck it up, and be honest.

                He opened the door, and Shiro lifted his head from the table where he’d been, apparently, banging it for the last two hours. “K-keith,” he stammered. “You’re back.”

                “Um. Yes. Emergency. Sorry.” He stared at the floor.

                There was a shuffle from in front of him as Shiro pushed his chair back and came in front of him. This was it. The jig was up. Now Shiro was going to be upset, and Keith was going to be the oblivious _dickbag_ who’d broken his best friend’s heart, a heart that he would very, _very_ much like unbroken, thank you –

                “I’m sorry,” Shiro exhaled.

                “-Eh?”

                “I should have asked first. I just – I got a bit ahead of myself.”

                Keith raised his eyes nervously to Shiro’s, trying to gage his reaction and not look _too_ much like he had no idea what Shiro was talking about.

                “It’s –“ Shiro ran his hand through his hair, white hair flopping back down onto his face as he sighed. “I’ve gotta be honest with you, Keith. I’m in love with you. And I think I’ve been in love with you for an awfully long time. I have _no_ idea when it started. It just – it just happened. And I kept meaning to ask you out normally, but I mean – I don’t even want anything to change. But the Valentine’s Day thing was probably a bit much. And I –“ Shiro pressed his hand to his face. “I’m rambling.”

                “It’s, er. It’s fine,” Keith mumbled, hoping his face wasn’t too red.

                “The point is, I’m sorry I freaked you out. Things can just stay how they are. I _like_ how things are. And I don’t want to lose my best friend in the world because you don’t feel the same way.”

                The gears began to turn – somewhat stickily – in Keith’s head. “…Wait what now.”

                “What?”

                “What?”

                “You said what first-“

                “No, no, no, hush – Wait, so you were asking me out, _today?_ ”

                “…Yes?” Shiro was looking more and more mystified by the second.

                Keith bit his lip, trying not to smile sheepishly. “As in, we _weren’t_ together beforehand?”

                All the blood drained from Shiro’s face. “… _Were_ we? D-did you think we were? Christ, am I the worst boyfriend ever-?”

                “No, you’re fine, I’m just-“ Keith buried his head in his hands and started laughing.

                “You’re laughing at me,” Shiro grumbled ruefully.

                “At _us,_ ” Keith corrected. “We’re useless.”

                “Does – does that mean there _is_ a we?”

                Keith just pitched forward and pressed his head into Shiro’s pecs. “There’d better be after all this. And you’re still taking me to dinner.”

                “…Awesome!”

                Keith reached up and grabbed hold of the back of Shiro’s hair, admiring the utterly dumbstruck look on his best friend’s – _boyfriend’s,_ apparently – face before he got up onto his tiptoes and captured his lips in a proper kiss. Shiro flailed for a moment, and then his arms wrapped around Keith’s-

                -and swung him around in a full circle.

                Keith broke the kiss to yelp in surprise. “What are you doing?”

                “Hm. Taking full advantage of the fact that I’m bigger than you.” Shiro gave him an evil grin. “…And making up for lost time.”

                “Yeah, well if _you_ were better at communicating –“

                “Says the boy who ran off for two hours.”

                “…Point.”

                ----

                So, things worked out. They got their Valentine’s date. Keith got a boyfriend. The jokes stopped being jokes, although they never _really_ stopped being funny.

                That didn’t mean that Keith didn’t try to punch Lance after he showed up to their house with a ‘present’ – a shirt for Keith that said ‘De Nile ain’t just a River In Egypt’. Apparently it was _supposed_ to be a "one-year anniversary present".

                Keith was _never_ going to live it down.


End file.
